“I wanted to create the opening credits of a TV show for a long time. So I made my own”.
We Were Young – was created during the pandemic lockdown, as an imagined TV series, but the original idea started a long time ago…I think I can easily say that I’m a film addict. I binge watch multiple different series at the same time, and as a Motion Designer, I have always been fascinated by the amazing title sequences some of these shows had. Unfortunately, I have not yet been lucky enough to collaborate on one of these beauties; which is a pity, because this Motion Art combines three factors that mean the most tome in my career. A perfect mix between beautiful cinematic shots, first-rate typography, and balanced storytelling.
We Were Young (WWY) is based on an imaginary world where brutality is permanent. A strange virus has infected a large part of the population, and the Army has taken control of the country. A giant hunt, to root out the infected, is underway. It is an allegory of the Second War World (WW2), that insane period of Time where the Nazis chased and captured Jews, crowded them into camps, and executed them without any scruples. It is also a moment in History where fearful people denounced others in order to gain favor from the people in power.
Today, it resonates strangely due to the current pandemic crisis. The events depicted in the short film do not seem far-fetched, they seem eerily close to us. This aspect of the past echoing again in our current reality is what I wanted to explore. Visually I needed to have something really strong, with a rough feeling and a recognizable style. A lot of my inspiration was found in Roman Art, Romanticism, and German Expressionism.
INFORMATION
All images with courtesy of Fabian Aerts
